Success Takes Planning

By Christina Sciarretta

Achieving measurable results is something we all want more of in our lives. As a business owner, results are my life. I have to work in my business and on my business, on top of being a wife, a mom, a daughter, a friend, a niece, and so on. Life goes so fast and it can often be difficult to keep up and achieve the results that I was so confident I could achieve at one point. Ever felt that way?

That’s usually when good ole burnout sets in. You run fast at the beginning to try to achieve results, but you fall behind. Then you try to catch up, but the further behind you get, the faster you have to run to catch up and eventually, you get so tired of running, you just stop running and stop producing quantifiable results altogether. I have been on that hamster wheel so many times, so I want to teach you what I have learned to help prevent burnout in your life and get you back to producing the results that you want.

I believe that there is a secret recipe to producing quantifiable results. This can be applied to any area of your life: business, fitness, health, spirituality, parenthood, marriage, relationships, etc. Here is the secret recipe:

  • 80% Preparation
  • 20% Execution

Preparation is not everything, but it’s almost everything. It has been said many times that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. This has proven to be a very real truth in my life.  When I plan ahead of time, I am intentional with my actions and execution. I am aiming it at a specific target, instead of shooting into the abyss. The execution part becomes the easy part, because i’ve prepared everything up to and including my own mind for whatever I need to do to produce the results I want.

Trying to grow a business is a grind like I have never experienced. It is incredibly important that I do the right things each and every day, not just handle things as they happen. That isn’t operating out of excellence. Not in business, and not anywhere else in my/your life. So I have found that the magic happens in the planning.

Think about this principle in relation to eating heathy food: if you don’t plan your grocery list and fill the fridge with fresh fruits, veggies, and good things, then what will happen? You may starve yourself until you become so ravenous, that you eventually eat the sleeve of oreos in the pantry. Or maybe you won’t. But the point is that if you don’t prepare, you’re just leaving it up to chance. Don’t leave it up to chance. Be intentional with 80% preparation.

Because preparation is so important to achieving measurable results, I have established a series of routines that help me nail my preparation, so that I do the 20% of things that lead to 80% of the results. you can adapt this for your business or personal life as well.

On Sundays, I’m rarely available to the world. My Sunday routine is what sets my whole week up for success and when it is not completed, my weeks are noticeably chaotic and stressful. I begin my Sunday routine by washing all of my laundry and cleaning and organizing my house. I don’t like having to search for things during the week, so cleaning my home allows me the chance to set myself up for success and know return everything to the appropriate spot. I spend my Sunday nights working between two things: My GPS and my calendar.

The GPS is my one main goal, three priorities that will lead to achieving that goal, and 5 strategies to achieve each priority. This helps me to pinpoint the activities that will help me achieve real, actual, measurable results. Everything/ anything else is but a distraction. When I am questioning if I should put something into my calendar, I simply weigh it against my GPS, and let it make the decision for me. Is it one of the 3 priorities that will lead to reaching my one goal? If not, then the answer is crystal clear. I use my brainpower to craft the plan when I have quiet focused time, and then I simply execute during the week with purpose.

From there, I brain dump everything that I think that I have to do into my notebook and organize each task , holding it accountable to my GPS. I put these tasks into

  • tasks that I must do,
  • tasks that I should do
  • 80% tasks

Tasks that I must do always include the activities in my GPS. Every activity in that section will lead to quantifiable results. The “should do” tasks are tasks that I should get done, but won’t affect immediate results if I don’t get them finished. The 80% tasks are tasks that perhaps others have asked me to do or tasks that will build the future of the business, but won’t directly affect the bottom line. Once my priorities for the week are laid out, it’s just a matter of organizing them into specific blocks of time in my calendar and then it’s execution time!

When you prepare fully, you’ll take the appropriate actions to achieve the results you want, instead of leaving it to chance. Begin to see preparation as a large and very important part of your life, and the results will follow. For your free GPS template, email christina@rockstarjerseyshore.com! Until next time Shore Locals, I’m sending you peace, love, and good vibes from my beach chair to yours!

Christina Sciarretta is the president and CEO of The Sciarretta Collection of Keller Williams Jersey Shore, a real estate and media team. Born and raised in Atlantic County, she’s a mom with a serious passion for people, good vibes, and AC. She lives in EHT with her husband Andrew and 2 kids, Grayson and Avery Lee.

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